36 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[March, 



THE SOURCES OF SPRINGS. 



On page 19, of February number of tlie 

 Farmer, a correspondent says : "Fifty years 

 ago, or more, more than half the farm was 

 woodland, and especially those parts which 

 bordered on the creeks were covered with 

 timber. Near tlie house, and at the base of 

 a liill was a large ' never-failing ■* spring, sur- 

 rounded by trees. The entire fore.st growth 

 had boeuf removed : and when we visited the 

 farm on the loth of December, 1878, the 

 spring was non est— it had disappeared a 

 quarter of a century ago. Not a tree or a 

 shrub was near it ; all the hills on both sides 

 of the creek were denuded of their timbers, 

 and this drying up of the spring, and the di- 

 minution in the flow of the creek, was cotem- 

 porary with the removal of the trees, and was 

 doubtless the effect of that cause." 



Are we to understand that in the part Of 

 the country where this occurred, Geolo- 

 gists teach that a hill immediately over the 

 mouth of a spring, has the slightest influence 

 on its source ? — T. M. 



The " correspondent " alluded to in the 

 above paragraph, is no other than our "own 

 sweet self," and no geological doctrine is to 

 be inferred, other than what the general facts 

 may imply. We were merely giving our in- 

 dividual observations on the changed charac- 

 ter of the locale of our boyhood, as "seeming 

 to favor the theory that forests exercise an 

 influence on climate and water flow. Of 

 course, we do not infer that the removal of 

 the trees immediately surrounding a spring 

 will exercise much influence over it, unless it 

 is a very week (me, and especially not over its 

 source ; and yet, ive do knmo of a half a score 

 of springs along the Susquehanna, that have 

 entirely disappeared since the days of our 

 boyhood, when there were many small groves, 

 where there are now only cultivated flelds. 

 The farm to which we alluded, and upon 

 which we wraught in 1826 and 1827, con- 

 tained perhaps 150 acres, about one half of 

 which was forest, and contiguous to it were 

 also otlier forest lands. This forest occupied 

 the highest ground, north and westward of 

 the spring, but this is now all cultivated 

 fields ; and the spring, was such a strong one, 

 that we confess we were much surprised at the 

 magnitude of an eft'eet from, apparently, 

 such a slight cause. The present occupants 

 of the farm know nothing about the spring, 

 save from tradition. We .cannot say that we 

 have yet been able to come to ii definite con- 

 clusion upon this question of climatology, 

 and therefore we have merely related a plain 

 unvarnished fart, for whatever it may be 

 worth. We feel confident, however, that the 

 theory can never be either sustained or over- 

 thrown, by grasping at little inadvertent 

 straws in the testimony, either pro. or con. to 

 the main issue. 



Queries and Answers. 



THE ELM TREE BEETLE. 

 Faiemount Park, Phu.adelphia, March 4, 1881. 



Prop. S. S. PlATHvos, Lancaster, Pa.— Z»far Sir: 

 I am seekina: information regardina: an insect, 

 {Oalcnica calmarieiixix) a. &ma.U beetle that infests 

 the elms, around and south of Philadelphia, and 

 which I believe is unknown north of us. The beetle 

 flies upon the leaves to deposit its eggs, and the 

 larva feeds on the leaves, until the trees are quite 

 denuded of foliatje. 



Wliat I desire to know, is whether they undergo 

 their metamorphosis, from the larva, to the pupa 

 condition, Upon the tree and descend to the ground 

 by means of the trunk, or do they accomplish their 

 descent by the falling of the leaves. I have referred 

 to several works on the subject, but cau find no 

 reference to the question. Any information you can 

 give me in relation to this matter, will be fully ap- 

 preciated. Tours truly, 



Cbas. H. Miller. 



By reference to page 131, vol. 8 ; p. 98, vol. 

 9 ; p. 97, vol. 10 ; p. 97, vol. 11 ; and p. 98, 

 vol. 12, of the Lancaster Farmer, (187(5, 

 1877, 1878, 1879, 1880) you will perceive that 

 the " Ehn-leaf ]3eetle " has been a common 

 pest in Lancaster county — and especially in 

 und about Lancaster city— ever since about 



the year 1875. But first allow us to say, that 

 the insect to which you allude is not the 

 Oalenica calmariensis, but the G. xanthoma- 

 loena ; the first named species confining itself 

 exclusively to equatic plants, and probably 

 docs not exist in this country — at least we 

 have never seen it here, in its native state. 

 Those writers who have confounded the latter 

 with the former named species, probably 

 never saw a specimen of the former. AVe 

 sincerely wish you could have ready access to 

 the volumes of the 'journal aViove named, be- 

 cause we tire of repeating what we have al- 

 ready written upon the subject. Many beau- 

 tiful Elm trees fell victims to the infestations 

 of these- pernicious insects during the year 

 1880— for they were present in mihions, in 

 the city of Lancaster, and yet the people 

 generally — except, perhaps, the owners of 

 the trees— seemed to regard them with com- 

 parative indiflerence. This was conspicuously 

 so, in regard to several trees that stood on 

 church properties, where the beetles were al- 

 lowed full sway with little molestation. The 

 Elui-leaf beetle is a winter hibernating insect, 

 and gets into dwelling houses, stables, or out- 

 houses of dirterent kinds, under the bark of 

 trees, or any other cover of which they can 

 avail themselves, and come forth in the 

 spring, as soon as the elmleaves begin to ex- 

 pan'd. There are at least two broods of them 

 during the summer season, but the second 

 brood is always the most numerous and the 

 most destructive. Both the beetle and ■ its 

 htrva feed on the elmleaves, but the larva is 

 the worst on account of its longer life and its 

 greater numbers — each female depositing from 

 two to three hundred eggs. After the larva 

 is matured, d riiiu' July and August, it comes 

 down, and pupates iiinl.r tin- trees, creeping 

 under any cover tliat is available, and where 

 the ground under the trees is hard and smooth, 

 or where the ground is paved, they will 

 pupate in the seams between the bricks', or in 

 any small cavities around the bases of the 

 trees they infest, and may be swept together 

 by hundreds of thousands and destroyed. 

 Usually the larva travel down the trunks of 

 the trees, but many fall with the leaves, and 

 WB have also reason to believe that many of 

 them let themselves drop d:)wn from the 

 branches, for we have seen the pavements 

 covered with them as far as the branches ex- 

 tended, and often on a space three feet square, 

 we could have gathered as many as would 

 have filled a. piut-nieasure But they do not 

 all pupale ml the trriiuiid ; for, when that in- 

 lerestiiiji iiciuid in tlair development occurs, 

 they pupate wherevir they hai)pen to be, 

 hence under tlie scales of bark all over the 

 trunks and larger branches of the trees their 

 yellow pupiE may be found. Doubtle.ss the 

 larvai would yield to the spraying of the trees 

 with poisonous solutions and decoctions, but 

 in great high elm-trees this is almost imprac- 

 ticable. They are most assailable in tlie pupa 

 state, and if they cannot be circumvented in 

 that condition, the only remedy is to remove 

 the trees, for they infest no other trees, even 

 when they are in in near proximity to them. 

 A strong solution of whale-oil soap, and a stiil 

 brush with a long handle (such as is used in 

 cleaning gutters) will be necessary in cleaning 

 the trunks and branches. Those gathered 

 from the ground may be scalded, burnt, or 

 crushed. It will, however, require a per- 

 sistent effort to destro3' them. Birds — at 

 least the English sparrows— have no liking 

 for them; for, in a "roost" of about one 

 hundred sparrows' nests, not a stone's throw 

 from an infested tree, we never saw a single 

 sparrow approach one, or appropriate a single 

 beetle, although they were active in feeding 

 their young all summer. . 



The Elm-leaf beetle is about one-half larger 

 than the " Cucumber beetle " [Diahrotica 

 vittata) to which it has a family alliance, and 

 is* similar to it in form. The general color is 

 a clay-yellow, and also generally three black 



*Since writing the above we are informed that full sets 

 oftheLAXCAST-B FAKMKRforl875, 1876, 1877, 1878, 1879 

 and l^so niaj be obtained, at the usual price, by address- 

 ing tiie publisher. .John A. Hiestand, Ksq,, "Examiner" 

 oflice, Lancaster. Pa. 



spots, tranversely arranged, on the thorax. 

 But these are not always distinctly present, 

 there is also generally a black longitudinal 

 dash near the' outer margin, at the hinder 

 ends of the wing-covers. When the weather 

 is warm the beetles are tolerably active and 

 quickly take flight, but early in the spring 

 they are somewhat sluggish and may be easily 

 captured when surprised in their hiding 

 places. Of course they fly into the trees and 

 deposit their eggs on the leaves. On one occa- 

 sion a lady in the county brought us about a 

 dozen specimens, which aimong a hundred 

 others, she found behind a fireboard in an 

 upper unoccuped room in her house, in the 

 month of March. If they can be found and 

 destroyed in the spring, the number will be 

 so much ies.sened during the summer, for 

 each female will deposit a great number of 



Communications. 



ITEMS FOR THE FARMER. 



As soon as the upper portion of the straw of 

 the cereals becomes yellow, no farther increase 

 takes place in the weight of the seed. If the 

 grain be not cut down soon after the ap- 

 pearance of this sign, its quality deteriorates, 

 and its weight diminishes. 



It is as easy to grow 100 bushels of corn to 

 the acre, as it is to grow 70, and with the 

 same labor only, and after the plan of 'doing 

 it is at once explained, it will be as plainly 

 seen as the nose on one's face. The seed from 

 the same, grown in this wise, is cheaper at 

 S2.00 per bushel, than your present seed corn 

 is at a gift, as it will always produce the 

 same, (more rather than less). 



Where two trees of the same class of fruit 

 bear a good crop every other year only, it is 

 an easy matter to change and have one of 

 the two to give its portion of fruit every year, 

 and it requires but little labor, say one hour, 

 and the work is permanent, without any fur- 

 ther work or trouble. These items are worth 

 knowing, especially where the fruit is choice, 

 and for one to be master of his trade (agri- 

 culturist). 



For the two above receipts, any one wish- 

 ing to learn how, can do so, by writing to 

 me.— Wm. I. Pyle, Box 400, West Chester, 

 Chester count;/, Fa. 



DOUBLE APPLE. 

 Mr. Rathoon: I see by the February num- 

 ber of the Farmer, that yon have a double 

 apple. I will here tell you how it was made 

 double, as I have seen the like. Immediately 

 after the fall of the blossom, the stem split at 

 the fruit end, and as fruit is nothing but a 

 modification of a leaf, the fruit, or tight com- 

 pact substance of leaves, gradually divided 

 with the stem, and being furnished with sap, 

 it healed as it divided. I have seen fruit and 

 leaf both in the one and same body, both 

 apples and tomatoes, more especially toma- 

 toes, fruit and leaf, leaf at both ends, and 

 fruit between. In this case there is no seed 

 bearing solid fruit. Yours truly, 



Wm. J. Pyle. 



For The Lancaster Farmer. 

 THE TWO CATAPALS. 



The writer of this asked through the 

 columns of the Farmer, for information as 

 to the wood of the western species of catalpa, 

 as that wood is said to be the coming wood 

 for durability, for railroad ties and tor fence 

 posts. No one having responded, I will 

 therefore essay|a description, through John A. 

 Warden, M.d!, President of the American 

 Forestry Association. 



We have two species of catalpa, both native 

 to our country — an eastern species, and a 

 western species. Our western catalpa, ac- 

 cording to Micheau, has a wide habitat, 

 sti-etching from Vincennes, Indiana, to Illi- 

 nois, Kenuicky, and Tennessee, and from 

 thence on to Kansas and most of the tribu- 

 taries of the Mississippi. This species waa 



